Early Smith & Wesson Double Actions

Rare Beauty

It had a 5″ barrel, 100% nickel plating still intact, beautiful pearl stocks — real pearl not the faux pearl found so often today — and was in nearly perfect condition including the barrel. It had been fired but not very much. The chambering was not the .44 Magnum of today, not the .44 Special so many of us appreciate, but rather the magnificent .44 Russian. Did I buy it? Surely you jest!

In 1869, Smith & Wesson brought out the first big-bore, cartridge-firing revolver with the break-top Model #3 chambered in .44 S&W American. Not only did this revolver fire a serious cartridge, it was very easy to unload and reload. When a latch in front of a hammer is unlocked, the entire barrel and cylinder assembly rotates 90 degrees downward and the ejector assembly automatically ejects the fired cartridges. It took a couple of seconds to refill the cylinder, rotate the barrel and cylinder assembly back into place, and the gun was ready to fire.

Smith & Wesson’s Double Action .44 Russian would not be manufactured until 1913; however, all frames were made prior to 1899. Approximately 54,000 were manufactured. A rare variation was the lighter Wesson Favorite, also in .44 Russian with approximately 1,000 being produced. By slightly lengthening the cylinder, the Double Action became the Frontier Model with approximately 15,000 being made in .44-40 and less than 300 in .38-40.

For many years I have read the original double actions were very hard to shoot double action and I had no reason to doubt this. That is, until I acquired my own Model 1878 .45 Colt and a Smith & Wesson Double Action Frontier .44-40. By acquiring I should say both were anniversary presents from Diamond Dot, a wife who truly understands.

Perhaps I have a stronger than normal trigger finger from so many years of shooting. However, I found both revolvers easy to operate double action and also easy to handle when point shooting. I’ve always had an immense fondness for single actions in general and the Colt Single Action in particular. However, in the past 30 years I’ve also learned to appreciate the Smith & Wesson single action revolvers — the American, the Schofield, the Model #3 Russian and the New Model #3.
If I had lived in the 1880s and if I had normally carried a single action and if I had been introduced to either the 1878 Colt or the Double Action Smith & Wesson, what would I have chosen? Single Action or Double Action? Colt or Smith & Wesson?